Larry O'Gorman hails appointment of 'Wexford man' Keith Rossiter
WEXFORD MAN: Wexford Manager Keith Rossiter during his time in charge of the U20s. Pic Credit ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Wexford great Larry O'Gorman reckons the appointment of Keith Rossiter, someone of 'our own flesh and blood', was a timely one for the county.
Rossiter has replaced Tipperary man Darragh Egan in the role with Clare's Davy Fitzgerald previously in charge for five seasons.
Liam Dunne, an Oulart-The Ballagh clubmate of Rossiter's, was the last Wexford man to manage the Slaneysiders, in 2016, and O'Gorman felt it was high time for a native appointment.
He claimed that around the county 'people were asking questions' such as 'Is there no-one within our county? Why are we spending so much money bringing boys in to coach our teams, there's surely someone within the county?'
"Some of the performances that we have given over the last four of five years, even under Davy, and then Darragh Egan, there were games that we weren't able to get up for, there were games that we should have won and won handy," said O'Gorman at the launch of the 2023 BEKO Club Champion, an initiative open to all clubs in Leinster.
"For some reason, the fight within the players seemed to just die away and why is that? Maybe it's the outsider guy that comes in and looks at a team and says, 'Look, I'll promise you this' or 'I'll do this and I'll do that for you'. It's not the same (as coming from a native).
"As I said before, if you're bold and your neighbour's father gets on to you, you might or you might not think about things but if your own Dad got on to you, you'd address the thing straight away.
"The man (Rossiter) is a Wexford man, played for Wexford, wore the purple and gold, so you have to respect that when he's over you and you have to do what he's asking of you. He's proven it, he's been there, done that.
"There's a difference of a guy that wore the jersey before, full of passion, full of spirit and he's going to get that message into the players that this is what we want so I think it'll be a new change in hurling in Wexford under Keith Rossiter."
Former Wexford defender Rossiter, who guided the U-20s to this year's Leinster final, will be assisted by two more former players, Damien Fitzhenry and Eanna Martin, along with David Franks and Frank Flannery.
The team was on the verge of relegation to the Joe McDonagh Cup earlier this year before dramatically defeating Kilkenny in Round 5 of the Leinster SHC, keeping them up.
"I'd say we could have seen the end of four or five lads if we'd went down," said the 1996 All-Ireland winner.
"Whether Lee Chin would have stayed on, or Liam Ryan or Dee O'Keeffe or Liam Og, those lads who have been there for 10 years or so, whether they would have stayed on or not, I don't know.
"I think it would have been a massive blow to hurling in Wexford but also to hurling in Leinster, and the GAA world itself.
"The GAA know Wexford bring massive support to every big game, so in that respect we in Wexford were obviously delighted we stayed up but I'd say the GAA were also delighted we did."
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